Disease fears as cyclone survivors scramble for aid
Overburdened relief centres were attempting to deliver aid to tens of thousands of cyclone survivors in Bangladesh today as authorities tracked an outbreak of waterborne illness that reportedly left two children dead.
Fights broke out in some relief camps as crowds of people struggled to get help after last week’s cyclone, which has killed at least 3,100 people and left many more homeless.
In Purba Saralia, nearly 2,000 people descended on a government-run relief camp where officials only had food for 1,200.
A few miles away, in the village of Basal Bar, fights broke out among cyclone victims as thousands of people waited for rice at a food distribution centre set up by a local aid group.
Meanwhile, the coastal area battered by Cyclone Sidr has been struck with waterborne diseases, which have killed two children in the district of Patuakhali, according to reports.
Health officials said they were bracing themselves for an outbreak of diarrhoea because the cyclone had destroyed many wells and waterborne infections were known to spread after cyclones, floods and hurricanes.
In the capital Dhaka, the health ministry said it had opened a special desk to monitor any diarrhoea outbreaks and water purification tablets were being distributed along with safe drinking water by officials.
Meanwhile, aid agencies and UN officials were visiting the affected areas to assess the damage, a United Nations Development Programme spokesman said.
Food, fresh water and temporary shelter had still not reached many survivors six days after the cyclone struck.
“At this time we will welcome support from the international community,” a spokesman for the Bangladesh foreign ministry said. “We are doing as best as we can do ourselves.”
The country’s interim leader, Fakhruddin Ahmed, described the cyclone as “a national calamity” and urged citizens to help the affected people.
The government said international aid worth about €83.5m had so far been promised.
The official death toll stood at 3,153, but local media reports say more than 4,000 people may have been killed.
The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society, a sister organisation to the Red Cross, has suggested the final figure could be around 10,000.
